It is often necessary and desirable to apply lotions such as sun lotion, moisturizer, as well as other ointments, to various portions of the human body such as the arms, legs, chest, and hard to reach areas such as the back. For example, when sunbathing at the beach or other location, it is often desirable to apply sun lotion to all areas of the body exposed to sunlight to protect from the sun's harmful rays. When alone, however, it is often difficult for individuals to apply the sun lotion by themselves to areas of their body that are difficult to reach using only their hands. Moreover, it is often desirable to apply sun lotion to the body without getting the sun lotion all over one's hands. Accordingly, a variety of different types of lotion applicators have been designed for applying lotions to desired portions of the human body. Additionally, in a related field, many bathing brushes have been designed for applying soap to one's body or for scrubbing one's body, especially the back area.
For example, many lotion applicators have a removable lotion pad that is wrapped around or stretched over the head of a handle. U.S. Pat. No. 2,829,393 to Turcotte discloses such a cosmetics and lotion applicator which provides a porous applicator pad that is stretched over the head of a handle. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 2,936,475 to Johns discloses a suntan lotion applicator wherein a pad is wrapped around a body of the applicator which comprises a box provided with a telescoping handle for holding a bottle of lotion, makeup or the like. The pad is attached to the box by its edges being engaged by sawtooth edges on the sides of the box. U.S. Pat. No. 346,773 to Rees discloses another bath pad that is retained on the head of the handle by stretching the pad over a head provided with a pair of plates. The side edges of the pad are inserted between the two plates which are then clamped down using a set screw to thereby retain the bath pad.
In the field of bath brushes, many brushes have been designed which employ a bathing or wash cloth wrapped or stretched over the head of a handle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,221 to Edwards discloses a bath brush having an elongated handle with brush bristles at one end. A pair of clips are provided on the head of the brush about the bristles for removably retaining a washcloth. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,544 to Verry discloses a multi-purpose bathing wiper with a handle having a plate at one end. A pair of straps are secured to the plate and removably receive a sheet-like washcloth.
A number of lotion applicators employ a lotion reservoir and a hollow handle designed to supply the lotion from the reservoir through the handle to the head of the applicator. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,180 to Adams and U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,984 to Evans, disclose lotion applicators with the applicator member being shaped like a human hand for realistic simulation of applying lotion to one's body with a human hand.
Despite all of these lotion applicators and bath brushes, there is still a further need to provide an improved sun lotion applicator with replaceable lotion pads. Such lotion applicator should be simple to use, inexpensive to manufacture, marketable as a novelty item, and still provide excellent transfer of lotion from the lotion pad to the body.